Willard "Bill" Cleveland Powell

Willard Cleveland "Bill" Powell, 83, of Van Buren, AR., passed away on Saturday, February 14, 2026. A funeral service with military honors is planned for Monday, February 23, 2026, at Cockrell Funeral Home Chapel at 11:00 a.m. Interment will.be in Oddfellows Cemetery. Visitation will be at the funeral home from 10:00 a.m. until service time. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Alzheimer's Foundation at www.alz.org. Cockrell Funeral Home is honored to be entrusted with the funeral arrangements.

Bill Powell was born on April 30,1942 to the late Willard Carson and Lucille Fair (nee Boswell) Powell in Aliceville, Alabama. His family moved to Macon, MS when he was a child and Bill went on to graduate from Noxubee County High School in Macon. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served both in the Cuban Missile Crisis and in Vietnam. After his discharge, Bill began working for Taco Bell and eventually started his own franchise with Taco Town. Over the years he owned and worked in several franchises and restaurants. He was a gifted salesman and obtained his real estate license to sell real estate. Bill loved the outdoors and all animals, but especially horses. He enjoyed breaking horses and was a lifelong farrier. He also never left a stray dog behind, always taking them in and caring for them. In 1992, he moved to Ash Flat, Arkansas to manage the Farm County Co-op farm center. There he met his current wife, the former Judy Downs, whom he married on February 6, 1998, and together they made their home in Cherokee Village, Ark. Bill's lifelong passion of being a restauranteur bubbled up and he and his wife opened the Wing Shack Cheeseburger Grill restaurants in Highland and Mountain View, Ark. He finally retired from the restaurant business in 2018.

Everyone who knew Bill, friends, and family alike knew him as a disciplined, hard-working, and honest person who enjoyed his friends and dearly loved and was always very proud his family.

Bill is preceded by his parents, stepfather, James Hunter Powell, two daughters, Deborah Powell, and Tarra Powell.

Bill survivors include his wife, Judy Powell of Van Buren, AK, son: Justin (Carrie) Powell of Starkville, MS; brother: Mike (Cynthia) Powell of Prattville, AL; his grandchildren Mary Margaret Powell and Emma Carson Powell; stepson, Chris Henthrone (Summer), and stepdaughter, Stacy Fleisch (George) and several step grandchildren and great grandchildren.